


come forth, lazarus

by psycho_raven



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, M/M, because aaravos is a creepy pasta, bonding in the next charapters, hobo!Viren, imaginary season 4, in which Aaravos teaches him the star arcanum, light body horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:44:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22961092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psycho_raven/pseuds/psycho_raven
Summary: It was too obvious to be a good metaphor, and yet there he was, at the end of the fall.
Relationships: Aaravos/Viren (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 67





	1. deathless

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the amazing AU born in the Viren Stan Twitter, I couldn't resist. 
> 
> Please go and check littleleafbun and Okayelling art!

The cave was cold, dark and harsh, much like a cell.

Viren shifted his weight uncomfortably against the stone wall in which he was supported, the rough sensation made his resented muscles ache, a reminder of his actual situation. Slowly, he opened his eyes, unable to rest. He hadn't been able to sleep since his daughter brought him back from the dead. A reasonable thing to keep him awake—

He had died. 

It was everywhere around him. The broken crown still tainted with his blood. His clothes dirty with red stains contrasting the white fabric to emphasize how low, how broken. 

Looking at his hands, Viren thought bitterly about how the room he occupied in his brief period as King never gave him any rest, just like a prison and the place where he hid. The more things change, the more they don't. 

But he had died. And Viren could feel it on his bones— The absence of poison, the intoxicating power he learned to take to himself from the pulse of others. Such a little price to pay, Viren had thought of it. As if they didn't eat meat every day. His vitality had seemed cheap compared to the benefits. For the kingdom. For humanity. 

It felt as if a whole life had lapsed in seconds. 

Death wasn't only present in the absence of the damage dark magic did to his body. He could feel death creeping in every empty corner of that cold cave, crawling over him, manifesting in the shape of dispersed memories, coming back to his mind almost randomly.

He was a scholar, a man of study and endless lectures. Viren knew things didn't happen without a reason. He fell. He died. And now he was there, with every inch of his body aching, but alive. 

The thought formed itself shapelessly on his mind when he lifted his head. In front of him, Aaravo's coccus emitted a dim purple light. It was almost relaxing. 

Viren took a deep breath. Air filling his lungs, his chest rising with it. The pain was also a reminder. He wasn't the kind of person who would only mourn about his failures. He was used to frustration eating him from inside out, but he always did something with it. With the rage, the ache, the rightful indignation. But also with the loss, loneliness, and desperation. 

Claudia was about to arrive after an afternoon searching for food and water. The cave was dark enough for him to not know if the sun was up, but it made no difference. Viren could perfectly imagine Aaravo's voice telling him to get up and look presentable. It made him smirk. 

It was time for him to stand up. 

* * *

Claudia came back with clean clothes, bread, and fruits. It wasn't much, but Viren wasn't in any position to complain. Imprisonment had toughened him up. 

"This will make you feel better, dad," Claudia said, offering him the new clothes and a tired smile. The bags under her eyes and the strands of white hair talked about a weariness impossible to describe. 

Viren didn't know how to address it. There was so much to talk about, but he could only nod weakly and accept what his daughter offered him. He wasn't sure if there existed any words to speak about what happened while she was alone with his mangled body, doing the impossible to bring him back. 

Claudia looked at him for a second, moving her hands anxiously without knowing if it would hurt his pride, even more, to assist him. 

He didn't ask for help to get up, calculating every one of his movements from leaning towards the wall to gain impulse to walking towards a more private place in the small, damp cave. 

In the end, she just waited, peeling apples illuminated by the cocoon's faint light. 

"I will need something to trim my beard," Viren said, appearing from behind the rocks with what looked like a much more casual outfit, a long cape covering his shoulders. The hair messy and his beard untamed. 

"It looks good on you, dad. You know... from someone coming back from—" She couldn't finish the sentence, instead Claudia gave him an awkward smile, instinctively moving the white hair behind her ear. 

"It could be useful. After all, we are fugitives now." Viren answered, the voice rough, making a noticeable effort to make it sound natural. 

Silence installed itself between them, cold like the stones under their feet. They were fugitives. He had lost. It was too obvious to be a good metaphor, and yet there he was, at the end of the fall. 

All they could do was to keep moving forward. That's what they always did. After the divorce, after every one of Viren's failures and losses. Even after the first deaths struck them. Queen Sarai, King Harrow— And now, his son's betrayal and his own fall added to a growing list. 

Claudia looked at him searching for reassurement as little kids did while tugging their parent's sleeves. If there was something she knew for sure, was that Viren always had a second plan. Since she was little, her father's knowledge and confidence were a constant in her life. In Soren's life. 

_What could a dead man offer?_ He thought. But she was still his little girl, so he cleared his throat and spoke. 

"I'm sure you know that our situation is precarious at best. I still need to recover my strength and you also need to rest. Also, we will be executed if found."

"That's not alarming at all." Claudia tried to laugh a bit, the sound hoarse and forced, her smile resigned. She knew that after what they did, there would be no forgiveness. 

Viren wasn't interested in something so cheap as forgiveness. It was easier for Katolis to ignore politics turmoils with centuries of history than to understand his reasons. 

"It shouldn't be. We still have something they don't." Viren's gaze fixated on the glowing cocoon that had been developing in front of their eyes for the past days, a company they became accustomed to. 

Claudia followed his eyes and made a knowing noise. _Finally_ , she whispered. 

"I think it's time for you to tell me more about your little bug pal, dad."

"Yes, it's time. Sit and listen, Claudia." 

* * *

At first, Claudia was hurt her father didn't tell her about the secret of the mirror before. They were working together to decipher its mysteries for such a long time, the fair thing was for her to know about the shiny elf too. 

But after the King's fall, everything had been chaos. A fast succession of events that left no place for explanations. Or that's how Viren justified keeping Aaravos' existence as a secret. 

It didn't matter anymore. It was enough they had an ace under their sleeves. The tingling sensation of relief of still having a father to get mad at was also there, even after days of coming to terms with what they did and where it left them. 

They didn't talk about the resurrection or its price. Not a word about bent bones or other broken things. It was only about what was next. Both of them knew wounds closed themselves if you leave them alone, even when they don't. 

Viren had the advantage of his presumed death. Claudia was a fugitive and Aaravos an existence nobody still alive knew about. They were ghosts, and that's how they would have to move forward. 

"So, we will wait for him to hatch or whatever it is that shiny elves do?"

"Yes, I think that's the most sensate thing to do." 

"Because you are a pragmatist, right."

"That's right, Claudia." 

"Nothing more?" 

"I have no idea what are you suggesting." 

Claudia arched an eyebrow, doubt showing on her expression, but she decided to drop the topic and focus on her next revitalizing potion. Viren was grateful for it because he wasn't so sure anymore what was about pragmatism and what was about his repressed desires. 

With a heavy sigh, he thought that it was the first time he accepted it. The desires were there, buried deep within what was left of his heart, but there. 

It must have been a heavy fall. 

The decision was made. That cave would be their hideaway until the right time. It was only fair to wait for Aaravos after everything he did for him, Viren didn't tell Claudia about that thought, maybe the first kind action made in a long time. 

But it was also about pragmatism. Viren kept looking at the humanoid form in front of him, his faint glow covering the stone walls, the pale rays of light touching his body. Who knew what would he be capable of outside of his captivity. They couldn't just leave him there. It was a strategic move. 

Claudia hummed a song Viren recognized as the old lullaby he and his ex-wife would sing to her to sleep. It was a soothing sound and with it, he closed his eyes again. 

* * *

It was obvious what Viren's sleep would be full of. A normal reaction. Dreams about falling to oblivion without ever touching the ground, absorbed in the never-ending darkness. It didn't come as something new. 

There was also the memory of him trying to reach the weird purple creature while falling, what a weird thing to do before dying. 

He recognized the feelings that crushed his chest. Viren realized that the desperation, rage, and fear he felt while falling to his inexorable death were things he had felt many times before. Just pieces by pieces. 

Viren discovered dying wasn't as painful as living. 

A part of his consciousness scoffed bitterly. What a coward Harrow had been back then, choosing to die with his untouched pride that weighed even more than the crown, instead of living stripped of it, as Viren discovered he was now. 

Life was painful indeed. But he refused to choose death. 

With that thought in mind, Viren opened his eyes. Nothing had changed. The cocoon pulsing in front of them and Claudia mixing herbs and bugs at his side. 

"Good morning, dad. Or should I say good night? I have no idea what time is inside of this ugly place," she said smiling, still tired but her strength was unparalleled. Viren was equally proud and worried. 

"Time doesn't matter. But you should double the amount of moth powder, the effect will last more."

"Do you still remember how...?"

"Of course I do. That's the thing with dark magic, daughter. They can't take the knowledge from you. Not even death can do that."

He remembered spells, potions, and dark magic theory, but didn't feel the traces of it on his body to recreate every charm. It was disconcerting, like being naked with the cold wind against his skin, but it cracked no more. 

It was always insulting when people talked of dark magic being a shortcut as if he didn't study for years to know every procedure, every right ingredient and amount of life force it would require to do a certain spell. Nights he spent awake for the good of the kingdom. To help Harrow. For humanity. 

That's why now, stripped of the intoxicating power once flowed through his veins and even deeper, without the power he breathed into his lungs, he still had his knowledge. 

His fingers moved absently, the wounds on his skin still fresh under the bandages but different from the lingering marks he used to wear before the fall. 

Viren was certain Aaravos would have an answer, he would just have to wait. 

What a dependant man had he become, he thought while looking at his daughter mix ingredients for another potion, illuminated by the purple bright of what otherwise would be a completely dark cave. 

* * *

It happened suddenly. In an instant. 

From the cocoon, a liquid drop. Something that looked like a melted galaxy. Stars dripping from his skin, washing away the darkness from the cave. 

Neither Viren nor Claudia could make any sound, their eyes fixated in what was happening just in front of them. Forgetting everything they were doing before. 

An unexpected flash blinded them long enough for _him_ to emerge. The same way stars are born, naked and majestic. Surrounded in mystery and magic. A bit terrifying, too. 

With that unknown substance covering his bright body, Aaravos looked like something from another world. Even Xadia was too earthly for him. 

Nobody moved for the seconds Aaravos took to adjust himself in front of them. The electrifying sensation of magic older than time filled the cave. Viren was sure Claudia could sense it too, how the universe itself shifted with Aaravos' presence. 

How, despite the stars and the galaxies forming before their eyes, something was suddenly off just because he walked on this earth again. 

Viren remembered the initial disgust he felt when the purple creature crawled on top of him, how eventually he became used to the sensation always pulsing against his ear. Xadia would also have to accustom to the sensation. 

With a paused movement of his hand, Viren stopped Claudia from touching the substance that covered the cave's floor. She made a disappointed noise but kept her fingers away from it. Viren wished he could be more disturbed than fascinated by the view. 

In the center of the cave, still illuminated by the pieces of the now broken cocoon and in the middle of a pool of stars, Aaravos stretched like a languid cat. His long hair felt in waves against his body, touching the floor in which he sat lazily. 

The seconds Aaravos took to finally open his eyes were a whole lifetime to Viren. He was sure his heart was no longer beating so that the sound wouldn't disrupt the scene. 

And then, like the first start that fell from the sky, he spoke: 

"And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and worship the stars."

"Or what?" Viren defiantly interrupted, possessed by his own curiosity. 

"Or I will appear," Aaravos answered, a sly smile across his face.

Suddenly the cave felt colder. But also it felt enormous. 


	2. breathless

He was there, Aaravos made of flesh and galaxies and so many other things impossible for Viren to describe. 

In front of him something completely new, different from the cold clarity of the mirror's image or the incandescence light of the projection that accompanied him on his travel. His voice was the only thing that stayed the same and with it, the same shivers running through Viren's spine. 

Days after what Aaravos playfully called his rebirth, it was still hard to believe. Aaravos itself was a concept hard to digest. 

"Something bothers you?" Aaravos asked, a lazy smile across his face. 

"The robes don't fit you," Viren answered quickly, an excuse for his constant gaze. 

It wasn't a complete lie. Aaravos had emerged naked and celestial as all beings are born. Claudia had to go out to find him some clothes, something to cover his bright body while they stayed in the cave, recovering the strength needed for their new journey. 

But it was insulting, Viren thought. Those farming robes of opaque colors, it was evident Aaravos was something from another world-- Not sure what exactly, but something else. He should wear the finest clothes of colors that would match the sky above. Things Viren could have offered if only he had succeeded as king. 

Another reminder of his failure, peasant's clothes for both of them. But Aaravos didn't seem to care. He looked even a bit curious about the fabric of his new outfit.

"That's what you think? Would you prefer for me to be naked?" 

"Don't joke like that!" 

When Aaravos laughed it felt as if every star on the entire universe suddenly twinkled at the same time, even when Viren couldn't see it from the darkness of the cave. Aaravos' presence was enough for him to _sense_ it. An annoying thing, he also thought. 

"Then I don't understand the problem. You could never find the cloths from which our clothes are made anyway."

"And what are they made of?" 

"Have you ever see a star explode? Of that remains of that blast of energy, of course."

"I don't know what I keep asking." That was a lie. The curiosity slipping through his annoyed tone was hardly hidden. Aaravos seemed entertained with it. 

"You know the answer to that, Lord Viren." 

Through the cheap fabric of his robes, the stars shined brightly, their light piercing across the clothes as if they were thin as a veil. It was impossibly hard for Viren to look away. But Aaravos savored every look, bathing himself on it. 

"How is this possible..." Viren exhaled, talking mostly to himself. Aaravos moved slowly to his side, more close than what seemed necessary. Of course, Aaravos rarely did things for merely need. 

Viren didn't move. He just rested his head against the wall and fixated his gaze on the harsh cold stones from the cave's ceiling, waiting. 

He didn't see Aaravos move closer, he just suddenly felt the warm tip of his fingers pressing against his open palm. 

"There is still magic on you, Viren. You absorbed enough of the baby dragon's power for me to be reborn, and for that, I give you my thanks." There was a pause, Viren couldn't precisely grasp the name of the sensation that anchored on his stomach, unsettling him. "You didn't truly fail, not with me here," Aaravos added. 

"You are just being dramatic." Viren still couldn't conjure the strength to look at him, even when he felt the warm pulsating sensation of his presence right there. Aaravos' presence, fresh and glowing as a summer night. 

"You didn't die" He continued, a trace of bitterness on his voice. "There is no rebirth without death, it is necessary for someone to cease to exist for a revival to happen. Your presence here was a matter of time." 

Aaravos' chuckle was close, and it didn't have even a little of joy on it. 

"You don't cease to exist when you die, Viren. Don't be a fool." Was that nostalgia? Or plain sadness? Viren wished he was better at reading people, but something told him that even with that skill, he wouldn't be able to read this creature. 

"And besides..." Another pause, Aaravo's gaze was focused on him, still as an old Xadian tree. "An existence ignored for so long, an existence refused to be looked, heard, or even acknowledged, is even worst than the finite certainty of death." 

Viren remembered the burning, acid feeling on his chest after being ignored once again by the council or worst, by Harrow. How the knot on his throat threatened to asphyxiate him when the same bile that constricted his stomach crawled acidly up to his mouth, leaving a taste of pure bitterness. Then his outburst would be violent and sudden, but always where no one could see him. And with that, no one could offer him any reassurement. 

An eternity of that. Viren was not willing to fight that argument. Instead, he turned his head to look at Aaravos. 

Only a glimpse, bright and brief as passing stars are on the dark skies of the night when war entertains men from seeking its beauty. A gloss on Aaravo's eyes that talked about a tale so sad, so terrible, that could infest the heart of men with its tragedy.

But also, the final recognition of being acknowledged. Of being seen, in that instant, the cave was an entire universe and nothing outside of the two of them existed. Not the chaos of the war, nor the death. Not the tragedies or the failures. Not even victories so long lost. 

"Don't think any less of what you are worth, Lord Viren," Aaravos whispered, closer. Viren could almost breathe those words into his lungs, even if they were meant to deceive him, it really didn't matter. "I'm here because of you. If another way was possible, I would have tried it a long time ago."

"I'm glad you are here," Viren muttered. It surprised him the kindness and sincerity of his words, accustomed to showing that side of him to Claudia only. It had been so long but the words on his tongue diluted the lingering bitterness of failure and betrayal, anger, and resentment. 

A fleeting thought crossed his mind; how easy was for the heart to get used to a certain kind of pressure, an itching constant weight from accustoming oneself to the same negative feelings. That was the true poisoning darkness. 

Aaravos didn't answer, instead, he searched for Viren's hand, his fingers tracing invisible lines on the back of it. Viren knew it was his way of saying; _yes, I'm glad too._

And maybe, one wishful thought: _I wouldn't want to be in any other place._

Claudia arrived minutes later, carrying bags full of supplies. She caught them with their hands intertwined and the scene felt as if she was spying on something private, or maybe listening by chance to a secret no one else was supposed to hear. 

Only Aaravos noticed her presence, turning his head to her and taking one finger to his lips to shush her with a wink. 

Claudia would have found it annoying if only her dad didn't seem so rested. So she let them and focused on preparing the bags for their trip. 

Things were definitely starting to change. 

* * *

  
  
At any given opportunity, Aaravos touched him. 

It wasn't subtle, but Aaravos made it look like one of his many eccentric traits, just like any other game he played. It was a way of diverting the attention from it, Viren noticed. To not make a deal of what seemed a need for him, neglected for centuries. 

He would put his hand over his, touch the palm of it with the tip of his long fingers or brush them over his shoulder, sitting too close, leaning too nearly. 

He craved the touch, the closeness, the warmth of another body. It didn't require much thinking to discover the reason behind it, and Viren wouldn't admit it, but for some reason he didn't want to think of, he indulged. 

"I didn't remember..." Sometimes Aaravos would say to himself with awe at something so simple, so common as the crisp feeling of the cave's stones against his skin. One part a little too sharp, cutting a fine line through his palm. 

It was truly a rebirth. Even the pain, the rough sensations vastly different from his perfect accommodated chamber was new and mesmerizing. 

When Claudia softly hummed to herself while preparing lunch, Viren would let Aaravos rest his head on his shoulder. As if he didn't notice it. As if he didn't care. 

To not be able to remember pain, Viren thought, a feeling so hard to forget and so easy to embed into your memories, into your head, heart, and soul, meant that something fleeting like love and care had been long forgotten. 

* * *

It wasn't that Viren didn't notice it. He didn't try actively to deny it. It was just something he refused to think about. The familiarity with which he and Aaravos talked or just spent time together spoke of things Claudia could only guess.

There was something in the way they looked at each other. It wasn't precisely fondness, Claudia recognized it as something different, difficult to describe. It was more like comfort, and maybe even security. Suddenly her dad would let out a sigh that sounded like a huffed laugh, a sound so distant in her memories it took her a few seconds to reconcile it with the image of her father now, raised from the dead, a fallen king with peasant clothes and a scruffy beard. 

One time she caught, if only for a second, the subtle motion of Aaravos tracing Viren's beard with the tip of his index finger. 

The familiarity they wear was something Claudia didn't see since she was only a kid and the Queen lived. Back when Viren was still Harrow's best friend and the coldness of an unspoken distance hadn't installed between them. 

It was an entire lifetime ago, she thought. The bright summers spent in the fields with the two families sharing as if they were just a big one, lying in the green fields, playing and chatting without worries because there wasn't anything The Queen, The King, and their Royal Advisor couldn't solve. 

It was a different life now, but that didn't necessarily mean it was a worse one. That's what Claudia tried so hard to convince herself of. 

She smiled to herself, thinking with a renewed optimism. Claudia even felt proud of being capable of thinking positive after everything that happened, and maybe she didn't fully trust the elve, but dad looked better than what she expected, so-- 

"You look happy," Aaravos spoke, low and unannounced. Every movement calculated to flow the same ways snakes crawled between the grass, silently and graceful. 

"Don't talk so loud, dad is sleeping," Claudia answered, unamused. 

"I have never spoken loud word in my life, there is no refinement in that." Claudia raised an eyebrow, stuffing on her backpack everything the would need in their new journey. 

"If you say so..." She lifted her head to look at him, all purple and bright, radiating mystery and confidence. "I'm relieved, that's all. I thought dad was going to... I don't know, take all of this way worse." 

"And why did you think that?" Aaravos seemed interested, curious and maybe just a little worried, or that's what Claudia wanted to believe. 

"He doesn't deal well with frustration or losses. I don't know what _you_ know but... Life has been hard on him." 

Aaravos looked thoughtful before answering. "He complained before, but he never made it sound like a big tragedy."

"Dad is like that." Claudia smiled fondly, adding: "A pragmatist." 

"Oh, yes. That's something I have heard before. What a curious justification is that, for everything he does." 

Claudia huffed a laugh, glancing at where Viren rested. His wounds almost healed. 

"Having you here... I think it gives him security. It has always been the three of us, you know?" The smile on her lips quickly disappeared, Claudia's gaze lowering to the ground before adding more quietly. "Two of us now." 

Aaravos only had to wait a couple of seconds for her to recover her spirit, or at least fake it perfectly. "So I'm glad you joined the team." 

Claudia felt a rush of satisfaction when Aaravos looked at her in silence, without any words to add. Being capable of getting a reaction of genuine surprise from him was unexpected. Even a glimpse of it was a victory because Aaravos quickly masked it with a pleased smile. 

"I'm here to serve."

"So..." Claudia put his hands together, glancing again at his sleeping dad. "He wants to start moving tomorrow, no changes in that, right?" 

Aaravos also looked at him, sleeping with his head against the wall and what Claudia recognized as one of Aaravos' robes covering him. 

"It's time to move on." He said, and his voice sounded quiet, his eyes firmly fixed on him. He repeated, this time to himself: "Yes, it's time to keep moving." 

* * *

It wasn't until Aaravos' arrival that Viren started looking at the sky. 

He knew about its power, about its magic. The importance of constellations and the moon's position, their usefulness for different kinds of magic wasn't something unknown to him. 

His approach was only theoretical while his feet were always on the ground. Before, his mind was focused solely on the kingdom, on its prosperity. There was so much work to do that he would forget birthdays and important dates, admiring the night sky wasn't a priority. 

But now... now he could put his mind somewhere else. In someone else. 

There wasn't much work to do besides climbing all the way up, this time to a different place from where he was. For the first time in ages, Viren had time to take all in and just watch everything that unfolded around him. 

With his first steps outside the cave and into the vast outside world, he took a breath on fresh air deep into his lungs, the cold sensation filling his chest with something similar to renewal. The simplicity of the act of breathing reminded himself of what a miracle was being alive. 

It was a dark night. It was autumn, the time of the year for things to fall and allow new things to be born. Everything before them was tainted with uncertainty and the bitterness of the defeat, the hurt of betrayal still lingered. But for the first time in ages, it wasn't the only thing Viren felt. 

With that in mind, Viren looked at the sky. Enormous and everlasting, the stars bathed them with their blinking shine, making everything look suddenly alive. 

He wondered if was because of Aaravos and his magic. Or if it was only the effect of seeing something, truly seeing it, for the first time. 

At Viren's side his daughter brilliant and strong, a beautiful brave woman who would always be his little girl. The reason he was alive, and the one who stayed with his dead corpse for days without giving up. A strength he could only imagine. 

At his other side was Aaravos, looking back at him, the night sky itself. All the mysteries of the universe unfolding with every step. He wasn't supposed to trust him, he didn't mean to care. But he smiled playfully and made a theatrical bow for Viren to keep walking and it made him _grin_. 

Only after that making sure he wouldn't ever forget who were the ones at his side, Viren started walking with the stars at his back. 


End file.
